Shifting Sands
by SauskexTemari4ever
Summary: Chapter four now up. Sorry its so short try to get more in later. Hope you enjoy please read and review.
1. Of Leaf and Sand

Chapter 1

Of Leaf and Sand

"Ah… I could have done that without Sauske any time. I just figured I give him a chance to try to beat that Haku kid." Naruto said as team seven made its way to the academy.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura as she smashed Naruto into the ground. "Don't talk about Sauske like that he saved your butt."

"Yeah well…" Naruto was about to make a comeback but he noticed a small box sliding along behind them. "Hey quit following us!"

Naruto kicked the box and out popped Konohamaru. "So you've seen through my disguise again Naruto." The small boy said as he stood pointing an accusing finger at him. "Your skill is recognized. Hey is this your girlfriend, you know the one you always talk about, Sakura." He said giggling slightly.

Naruto waved his hands pleadingly trying to get Konohamaru to stop but it was no use. Sakura gave an annoyed look which quickly turned into an angry glare.

"NARUTO! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Naruto and Konohamaru screamed and took off running away from the enraged Sakura. They turned into an alley way with Konohamaru ahead of Naruto. Just as Konohamaru made the turn out of the alley way he slammed into a boy with something tied to his back. The boy turned around quickly revealing his make up covered face. He glared down at Konohamaru who was too stunned by the fall to get up. The girl beside him stopped right after him and looked back to see what was happening.

"Hey punk watch where your going." Said the boy. "I guess I'll just have to teach you konoha kids a lesson." The boy lifted Konohamaru up by his collar and pulled back his arm to punch a whimpering Konohamaru.

Naruto charged in to take down the boy but before he could even get to him a stone was flung through the air and smashed the wrist of the boy.

The girl looked up to see who had thrown the stone. Sauske was sitting on the edge of a tree branch looking down at the boy in the make up, tossing a second stone up and down in his right hand.

_Hey he's kind of cute. _Thought the girl.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own side." Sauske said as he looked down upon the boy.

"Hey…" the boy started as he pulled off the thing on his back, but he was cut off by a new voice.

"Kankuro, Temari, how many times do I have to tell you. No fighting here."

Kankuro and Temari both grew quite pale and looked up to the person behind Sauske.

_How did he get behind me without me noticing? _Thought Sauske nervously.

"Yes, Sorry Garra it won't happen again. Right Kankuro."

Kankuro nodded gimly and put the thing back on his back.

Then without another word the two turned back up the street and walked off.

Later that day. Garra was no where to be found and Kankuro had gone to practice his jutsu, leaving Temari alone to roam around the village. After some time of looking through small shops and visiting the academy she caught sight of the boy from earlier. The one who had hit Kankuro. She instantly decided she had to talk to him.

Before she could talk herself out of it she was standing in front of the boy introducing herself.

"Hi, I'm Temari." She said, "What's your name?"

"Sauske." He said, not even pausing from his training.

"Yeah well anyway… uhh…" she hesitated trying to decide if she wanted to ask him out or not. "Well umm… I was just wondering if maybe you would… uh… well want to go out and get a bowl of ramen or something?"

Sauske stopped at this. It was strange besides Sakura's hints and trying to impress him, no girl had openly asked him out before.

"Uhh… well sure I guess."


	2. Ichiraku's Ramen House

Chapter 2

Ichiraku's Ramen House

Sauske sat down next to Temari and ordered some simple stir fry ramem for him and Temari.

They sat there on the hard benches in silence until Sauske decided to start the conversation.

"So, why exactly did you ask me to come with you?" he asked as a large bowl of ramen was placed before him.

"Well um… I don't really know. I guess I just wanted to get to know you. Your really cute… I mean… Uh…?" she was blushing a lot now and it was obvious that she was quite nervous.

"Ohh… I didn't realize that this is why you asked me to come here. I thought that you were going to try to get information about the Konoha ninjas. I mean with the chunin exams coming up and all. And its not that I don't think your cute or anything but I've really got to pay attention to my training if I want to achieve my goal."

"I know…" Temari said getting her confidence up after hearing that he might like her too. "But we wouldn't have to interfere with training or anything we could just get together every once and awhile to talk and hang out and stuff."

"Well really I don't think it would be right. I mean your from the village hidden in the sand and I'm from Konoha. Plus I really don't know anything about you."

"I'll tell you about me, but only if you tell me about you after." With a slight nod from Sauske she continued. "Well I come from the village hidden in the sand and I'm a genin kunichi. The two jerks you saw with me today are my teammates and… my brothers. Kankuro's just a bully but Garra is really evil. To tell the truth I'm really afraid that he might kill me someday." She said getting a nervous look on her face like she was about to cry. "I just hope that I'll be strong enough to get away from him when the time comes. I guess I guess other than train to become a kunichi so that I could protect myself from Garra I really don't have any other hobbies. Oh and I forgot I'm 15 and like being out near lakes and the ocean.

Sauske suddenly looked disappointed but seeing that she was through began talking about himself.

"There's really not much to tell about me. I live here in Konoha alone and am training to become a ninja. My only real goal is to become strong, because… I have sworn to kill someone. He is stronger than me right now but I must kill him no matter what. My teammates are Sakura and the big moron you saw today, Naruto. Other than that there's not really much I like so it's not worth telling you what I don't like."

Temari nodded as she finished a bite of ramen. She looked like she was about to say something when suddenly she burst into tears.

Sauske sat helplessly trying to figure out what he should do. He wasn't very good at comforting people and especially someone he just met. He placed his arm over her should and quietly tried to coax the problem out of her.

"I just… I'm not the strong person Garra forces me to be. Even though I'm a strong kunichi I'm still constantly scared of dying. I try to act strong so that Garra won't kill me."

Sobbing quietly now Temari rocked back and forth trying to calm down when suddenly Sauske spoke up.

"I'm not as strong as I act either. Ever since my family died I've been scared that Itachi would try to kill me. I haven't had a mother or a father to raise me, its so lonely. I try to hide my sadness by training as hard as I can. But inside I feel alone and cold just trying to get someone to care for me."

Temari wiped her eyes and gave a weak smile. They both just sat there for a while quietly collecting their thoughts.

After an hour or so Sauske realized that it was already dark outside and asked if Temari wanted him to walk her to where she was staying.

As they approached the inn Temari turned and smiled at Sauske.

"Thanks for walking me home, and for listening to me hey I hope we can get toget…"

Before she could finish her sentence Sauske leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He smiled at her as she blushed. She smiled back and gave him a long hug. After awhile they reluctantly pulled apart.

"How about tomorrow around the same time. We can go to my house." Sauske said.

Temari nodded, smiling at the great gift she had received. The kiss was nice and it was then that she realized that Sauske had real feelings for her. But the true gift was finally having someone to talk to.

After both saying their goodbyes the two turned away from each other and headed home.


	3. A Night Together

Chapter 3

A Night Together

Sauske was practicing his tree climbing when Temari appeared on the edge of the training field. As Sauske noticed her he dove to the next tree and slowly slid down to greet her.

"Hi, Sauske," Temari said as she approached him.

"Hey," Sauske responded still feeling a little awkward because of how little he had spoken to girls. "Are you ready to go."

Temari nodded and together they began walking out of the training grounds. Once out of the fence Sauske took the lead and began heading towards his house.

They walked in silence for a while and Temari began to feel like she needed to do something to get a conversation going. The only problem was that she couldn't seem to find her voice. After a second she hesitantly reached out and grasped Sauske's hand.

At first Sauske was surprised and started to pull away and then he looked over at Temari who was blushing a little and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

They stopped at a small sushi restaurant and grabbed some food to go and headed towards a park where they could enjoy it.

The wind picked up as they got to the park and the golden brown leaves were being blown out of the trees and onto the park tables. As the two ate their sushi they talked about what they had done that day and how the exams coming up meant that tonight would be the last night they would get to be together for a while.

When they had both finished it was already getting dark outside. Clouds began to form overhead and the smell of rain filled the air. Sauske took Temari's hand and together they walked towards his house.

On the way it began to pour down rain and by the time they got to Sauske's house they were both soaked.

"Here one second, I can get you a towel and something else to put on." Sauske said as they stepped inside his house.

The room they were in was a small cozy little room with a soft carpet and a nice couch in the corner along with a small TV across from it.

"Here you go," Sauske, said handing Temari a towel and a black bathroom robe. "Sorry I couldn't really find anything else for you to wear its ok if you just want to stay in what you have on."

"No, I'll be fine in this." She said. "I don't mind wearing this. As long as I'm dry. Do you have a place where I can change?"

"Yeah, there's a bathroom just across the hall." He said pointing towards an open door.

After a few minutes Temari came out of the bathroom wearing the black robe. Her golden blonde hair, which was usually tied up in four places, was now let down and running strait down part of the black robe.

Sauske too had changed into a black t-shirt and pants. His hair was still a little wet and some of the spikes had folded down and were covering part of his eyes. But he could still see Temari. He stared her for a long moment until he realized that she was blushing.

"I'm sorry come sit down on the couch." He said as he took a seat on the far end. "Its just… you look beautiful."

This made Temari blush even more but she managed to smile at the nice comment. She sat down next to him and let her eyes wonder around the room until Sauske finally broke the silence.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being someone I can talk to. I've never really had anyone I could tell my feelings too. But now I have someone I can confide in. And someone who its someone who loves me and cares for me."

"I feel the same way about you." Said Temari. "And I really do love you a lot it's great to finally have someone who I can tell about my fears."

At this Sauske leaned forward hesitantly and brought his face right up to Temari's, looking into her deep blue eyes. When she didn't pull away he slowly placed his lips against hers. At first it was a little uncomfortable, due to the fact that Temari seemed taken aback by the sudden gesture, but slowly Temari let her lips mold together with his. He brought his arms up and wrapped them around her slender shoulders, pulling her close so that he could feel the warmth of her body against his.

After what felt like and eternity, they slowly pulled away from each other. Temari smiled and Sauske smiled back holding on to the feeling of Temari in his arms.

"So…" Sauske said.

"Hmm…"

They both couldn't find words to express themselves right then but they were certain of one thing. The way they felt after that was great.

Sauske let his arm drape around her shoulders and Temari rested her head against his chest. And lying there together weariness overcame them and they fell asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Woo Hoo… I'm really glad with how that turned out. This is the first romance fanfic I've written so I was afraid that I might not be good at writting scenes like that. Please tell me how I am doing.


	4. Chunin Exams

Chapter 4

Chunin Exams

Sauske felt the warm figure next to him as he began to wake up. He smiled as he realized Temari was the one lying next to him. He took his arm and gently wrapped it around her waist, felling the cotton of the robe press against her sides.

She stirred and began to awake as well and Sauske leaned forward to give her a kiss, but before he could she was up on her feet looking around franticly.

"Ohh no… I fell asleep here! Garra's going to kill me for doing this the day before the exams." She said as she hurried into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Sauske sighed wishing that it had been any other day.

Temari was out of the bathroom a minute later fully dressed and with her hair tied back into its original style. She looked at Sauske and he realized that she was not at all mad but nervous. He hadn't realized that she was serious about Garra going to kill her.

She was just about to walk out the front door when she suddenly stopped and turned to Sauske.

"I'm sorry. I really don't want to run out on you like this."

"No its ok. We have to get ready for the exams."

"Yeah… Thanks for last night. I hope that wasn't akward last night. I mean me falling asleep here and all."

"No!" Sauske said with so much enthusiasm that Temari began to laugh. "I mean no it was no big deal."

"Well thank you." She said as she walked over and gave him a good bye kiss." I'll see you at the exams. Maybe we can get together afterwards."

Sauske nodded and with that she left running off towards the place she was suppose to be staying at.

As she walked into the building Kankuro was coming down the stairs into the lobby.

"Where the hell have you been? The chunin exams are today and you're…'"

"Leave her alone Kankuro." Garra said menacingly as he entered the room. "Lets just go to the academy."

With that the conversation ended and Temari and Kankuro just followed Garra to the academy where the first part of the exam was to be held."

When they arrived two boys where blocking the door to the classroom where the first exam was to be held. Garra merely walked by it and Temari followed but Kankuro called out to them.

"Where are you going this is the classroom."

'No it isn't look past the illusion."

As she said this the boys dropped the illusion and the sign above the door that had read 307 suddenly turned to 207.

The two boys blocking the door looked shocked as they heard this and saw how quickly the group had noticed.

_I sure hope Sauske passes the exam. Maybe I should have warned him about the true purpose of the exam. You have to cheat. That's what sensei said._

They walked into the classroom and took their seat. A couple of hours later and they were at the gate leading into the second exam.

_Thank goodness Sauske's group made it this far now I just hope Garra doesn't get ahold of him._

They had made good pace through the forest so far but they still needed a heaven scroll. That's when they ran into a group of rain ninja.

"You twerps are out of your league here. Why don't you just give us your scroll and we'll let you live ok."

"Quick talking and do something." Garra said as the rain ninja threw three umbrellas into the air.

Thousands of needles rained down upon Garra causing a massive amount of debris to fly into the air. But as it cleared it revealed a completely untouched Garra.

"Ha… You aren'r good enough to touch our Gara."

Garra starred at the ninja as he preformed the hand signs for coffin of crushing sand. And in an instant the sand had surrounded the ninja and crushed him.

The other two ninja cowered in fear and offered up their scroll but it was no use with a swift movement the sand crushed them too.

An hour later they where inside the tower waiting for the third exam to begin. In the back of her mind Temari couldn't help but to worry that Sauske might not make it out of the forest alive."


End file.
